Peter Straker is a Jamaican-born singer and actor, best known for appearances in Doctor Who and the 1985 ITV series Connie. He also had a long-standing professional and personal relationship with Freddie Mercury. He first shot to fame in 1968 when he starred as Hud in the original London production of Hair. Straker has starred in countless West End productions since, including Pete Townshend's Tommy, Ken Hill's The Original Phantom of the Opera, Hot Stuff, Blues in the Night, The Rocky Horror Show, The Rat Pack, One Love and Holding On; both with Ruby Turner. His classical roles include Cassius in Julius Caesar at Bristol Old Vic, and Lucio in Measure for Measure at the National Theatre. In 1972 he had a minor hit with a song, based on Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring by J.S.Bach & adapted by the song writing duo of Ken Howard & Alan Blaikley, who also produced the 45. It was titled "The Spirit is Willing" and the record label quotes the artist as Peter Straker – The Hands of Dr. Teleny. Released on RCA it entered the charts on 19 February 1972, had a chart life of 4 weeks & peaked at No.40. Straker also originated the title role of Nosferatu in the British premiere production of Bernard J. Taylor's musical at the Eastbourne Hippodrome in 1995. Recently he reprised his role in The Wiz with Birmingham Rep, and starred in The Hackney Empire's Cinderella, The Landor Theatre's The Glorious One's and returned to the Edinburgh Festival with a brand new musical show, Peter Straker's Brel which later played at the St James Theatre in London. More recently, Straker has performed in The Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, in a concert performance of Piaf with The Matthew Jones Orchestra. He most recently was announced to be returning to the Who's musical Tommy, which began a UK Tour in 2017. It has been announced that Cherry Red Records division, ‘Strike Force Entertainment’, is due to release remastered editions of Strakers’ solo albums, for the very first time, in early 2020. Cherry Red Records released a 3-CD boxset of Peter Straker's albums on 20 March. Included are remastered versions of 'This One's One Me', 'Changeling' and 'Real Natural Man'. The release also features rare Bonus Tracks 'Zoo New' and 'Queen Of The Self-Service'. This marks the very first time these albums have been released in any format since 1977, '78 and '80 respectively.
